It's the dream of every commuter stuck in rush-hour traffic, and the mission of six Des Moines suburban cities.

The cities are part of a newly created regional traffic group that's installing high-tech signals that learn from traffic patterns and communicate across city borders.

The goal is to optimize signals along major corridors to cut congestion, improve safety and reduce travel times.

"Drivers really don’t care where the Clive city limits are or the Urbandale city limits are," said Bret Hodne, West Des Moines' public works director. "If they’re heading north, they just want to get there as efficiently as possible."

The Western Suburb Regional Traffic Signal Operations Group includes Clive, Johnston, Urbandale, Waukee, West Des Moines and Windsor Heights.

Sixty-two of the city’s 111 traffic signals are “adaptive” — meaning they learn traffic patterns and change at peak travel times to prevent cars from idling too long at lights. They also can be manually controlled by an engineer when traffic backs up because of an accident or severe weather.

The signals are stationed along major corridors such as Jordan Creek Parkway, Mills Civic Parkway and Valley West Drive.

West Des Moines is the only city in the state that has an adaptive system up and running, according to Tim Crouch, state traffic engineer with the Iowa Department of Transportation. Other cities, including Council Bluffs and Waterloo, are in the process of installing systems or exploring the possibility.

According to the Federal Highway Administration, adaptive systems are used on fewer than 1 percent of existing traffic signals in the United States.

Formation of the suburban traffic signal group will spread the time-saving technology to West Des Moines' neighbors.

The lights are being installed along University Avenue in West Des Moines, Clive and Waukee, and on Hickman Road in Clive, Urbandale and Windsor Heights.

Once the lights are installed, drivers will experience fewer starts and stops, said Jeff May, Clive's public works director. They may not hit all green lights when traveling from city to city, but they should experience less wait time and see a significant reduction in travel time.

"I think it will be beneficial to all our communities," May said.

Jim Dickinson, a West Des Moines traffic engineer, said tests comparing travel times before and after the lights were installed in that city show the benefits. According to his data, travel time was reduced by 21 percent, stops were reduced by 55 percent and delays were reduced by 43 percent after the high-tech lights were installed.

Travel time on a 2-mile stretch of Mills Civic Parkway between South 68th and South 50th streets was reduced by an average of one minute, to 3.3 minutes, Dickinson said.

"With over 40,000 vehicles per day traveling on Mills Civic Parkway, the savings of a minute of travel time for each motorist quickly adds up," he said.

The lights also provide an environmental benefit, Dickinson said.

“Anytime you can reduce stops and reduce delays, keep the traffic moving, you reduce emissions, you reduce fuel usage, you reduce hydrocarbons,” he said.

Five of the six suburban cities have already joined the regional group. Urbandale is expected to vote next week.

Once the cities are on board, the group will hire a consultant to examine existing traffic systems and develop a plan to integrate them. The study should be complete in the spring. Each city will purchase and install its own adaptive signals, which cost about $40,000 apiece.

West Des Moines' signals were paid for with grants from the Iowa Clean Air Attainment Program. The city provided a 20 percent match.

Depending on funding sources, it could take years for the systems to be fully integrated across the western suburbs, said Joe Cory, deputy public works director in West Des Moines. In the meantime, corridors will come online intersection by intersection, and budgets and plans for new streets will include the adaptive signals.

What about Des Moines?

Lights that aren’t adaptive are controlled by cameras, sensors and radar.

Most systems can be manually changed during peak traffic times, like in Des Moines, where its system is connected through an underground fiber network and a series of cameras “to help keep an eye on traffic in real time,” said Jennifer McCoy, city traffic engineer.

Operators can log on from their computers when there are issues and change lights as needed.

McCoy said the city has been in discussions with the Iowa Department of Transportation on adaptive signals, but changing over Des Moines’ more than 400 lights is challenging, especially since the city is “still growing” its existing system.

“It’s something that we’re exploring, but have not made final determinations on,” she said.